With A Stranger
by Nefertanya dragongurl Ahhotep
Summary: Yuzu's having a rough day. So how about a surprise to take her mind off it? One-shot, fuzzy drabble :) Hitsuzu


**With A Stranger**

By

Nefertanya dragongurl Ahhotep

"Ichigo?"

Yuzu Kurosaki rapped again on her brother's door. 'For Pete's sake, he was just in there 2 minutes ago!' she growled internally. It had been a long day for her, and she was quite irritable by now. She turned the knob and opened the door. She half-hoped he was in a compromising position, just so she could have a reason to yell at someone. Besides – he'd have brought it on himself by ignoring her knock anyway!

No such luck – the room was silent and still. Yuzu took a few steps in and looked around, brown eyes landing on a plastic basket full of neatly folded, soft fluffy towels. She *tsked* loudly as her left eye started to twitch. "Dammit, Ichigo!" She cursed loudly, "I told you to put those away!" She huffed and snatched up the hamper and stormed out of the room.

"Jeeze! First the pilot light burns out, then Dad and Ichigo break the stupid microwave with their sparring sessions, Karin ruins a whole load of bed sheets by throwing in her red hat…" Yuzu stopped as she drew closer to the bathroom and heard the sound of the shower running, "and _now_ Ichigo's going to get bitchy because there's no towels in the closet!"

Yuzu's featured darkened further with every step she took, until she was madder than a nest full of killer bees! The sound of the water ceased just as she reached the doorway. Yuzu decided her brother needed to be taught a lesson, so a pre-emptive strike was in order!

"HEY, IDIOT! FORGET SOMETHING!" She roared as she swung the door open. She used so much force; the top hinge broke as is slammed with a loud **THUD** into the wall! "YOU - gasp!" Yuzu dropped the basket and recoiled in horror, both hands clasped in front of her mouth, eyes wide as saucers!

This…was most definitely NOT her brother! The white-haired teen stared back at her equally horrified, much of his pale, wiry muscled frame exposed to the world. He had pulled the frosted plastic curtain around as much of him as he could. "H-Hey! Do you mind?!" His face was red as roses with embarrassment (and a little rage).

"I'm so sorry! So sorry! So sorry! So sorry! So sorry! So sorry! So sorry!" She grabbed the basket and hurled it at him. "Towels!" She screamed, her face equally as red. The boy yelped as the incoming object hit him square in the face, and he almost lost the curtain that concealed the last shreds of his …dignity. Yuzu grabbed the broken door and slammed it shut again. It moaned in protest on its remaining hinge before that too gave out, falling onto the bathroom floor, the wind generated blowing up the bottom of the curtain, causing the boy to yelp and give it a sharp tug…. which caused the curtain rod to come down on his head.

Yuzu sobbed softly in the corner of the kitchen, shock causing her thin shoulders to shudder as her brain tried to comprehend how it had all gone so wrong. Who was that boy? Why was he in their shower? What had happened to Ichigo?

"Um…. hey…."

Yuzu stiffened at the awkward, unfamiliar voice coming from behind her. Her face reddened deeper, and her shaking grew worse.

"Listen…" the young male voice said softly. "It's…It's all right. It was just an accident. You obviously didn't know I was in there, so it's okay. Don't feel like you have to apologize or anything."

"Apologize…" Yuzu sniffled as she turned to face the now-clothed boy. "You were expecting me to apologize to you?"

The white-haired boy gave her a funny look. "Well, you _did_ walk in on me-"

"_You_ should have locked the door!"

The male's teal eyes flashed. "I _thought_ it was!"

"Well, _maybe_ you should have double-checked!"

"Well, _maybe_ I wasn't expecting anyone to come barging in!"

"Well, _maybe_ you shouldn't sneak into other people's bathrooms and use their showers without permission!"

"I **did** have permission!"

"From who?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki!"

Yuzu blinked at him. "You know my brother?"

"…. Yes. I'm a friend (of sorts). It's a long story, but in essence, I needed a place to clean up, and your brother offered me your shower. What?"

Yuzu was giving him a funny look. "I've been here all day." She accused. "And I haven't seen Ichigo hanging around with anybody except us. Now you're telling me you just 'magically' appeared and spent time with my _older_ brother. Forgive me if I seem a little dubious."

The white-haired boy smirked. He had a very pretty face, she mused. The sharp masculine edges of adolescence were present, but still softened by youth and 'baby fat'. She figured he could not possibly be older than herself - certainly not as old as Ichigo, though his eyes seemed to have seen more than a few years….

"My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya." He said lightly. "And I _am_ a friend of your brother's." He drew himself up to his full height and eyed her smugly. "And if you must know, I came in through his bedroom window. It's an arrangement we made."

Any leftover embarrassment completely bled away at his tone. "How nice for you to be above such petty conventions as Common Courtesy!" She said icily.

"Hey now-!" Toshiro started before wincing in pain. Yuzu's strong maternal drive switched on.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"Nothing." He grunted as his left hand automatically reached up to his right shoulder. Acquiescing to her non-believing glare, he continued, "I got a little banged up a couple blocks away from here. I was jumped by…by some big guys. I know your father runs a clinic, and that Ichigo's not the type to turn away a friend, so I came here. Here, where he offered me his shower and neglected to tell me about his peeping tom of a relative."

"I am NOT a peeping tom!"

Toshiro threw up his hands with a chuckle, "Okay, sorry. His over-zealous, innocent bystander of a sister. Better?"

"Hardly." She drawled, but couldn't hide her smile. She stretched her arms with a resigned sigh. "Well, come on!"

Toshiro raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Where?"

"To the clinic, of course!" She replied as she waved him to hurry up. "You said you in a fight. You strongly implied that you needed medical attention, and since no one else seems to be here, I'm going to have to be the one to examine you!"

"YOU'VE EXAMINED ENOUGH OF ME ALREADY TODAY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Toshiro shrieked. The empty room seemed to echo his outburst, and both of them turned away from the other to hide the fire growing across their faces.

"Ahem. Well, yes, that said…" Yuzu said meekly, feigning interest in the grain pattern of the wooden door. "We should really make sure your shoulder's okay."

"…Fine." Toshiro finally relented, after a prolonged silence. Yuzu nodded to the door. What had she gotten herself into…?

Yuzu carefully examined the boy's back. A large, purpling bruise covered most of his right shoulder, contrasting sharply with the pale skin. He had the well muscled back of a young teen that was active in sports, and not even the slightest suggestion of a blackhead that she could see. _Well, he's looks very well cared for, so he's not likely a street kid_, she mused to herself. She gently pressed her fingertips into the bruise.

"Ow! Hey!" He protested.

"Sorry." She smiled genuinely as she pressed again. "I'm just checking."

"Well, if your wondering if I can feel pain, you'd be damn right!" He snapped with a hiss. Yuzu immediately pulled her hands away.

"Well," she said, "It doesn't seem to be anything more serious than some major bruising, but we should probably do an X-ray to be sure-"

"That Won't Be Necessary!" Toshiro leapt from the table so quickly she drew back in alarm. The white haired teen checked himself and continued in a calmer tone. "Thank you, but I'm quite sure that's unnecessary. I can move it just fine, so I know it's not broken or dislocated."

Yuzu was rather confused. "I don't understand. If you didn't want to get your injuries looked at, why did you come here?"

"Like I said before – I was in a fight, a fight in which I got banged around (but the other guy got it much worse, I assure you). When it was all said and done, I was bloodied, muddied, and damn sore. Since I was closer to Ichigo than my place, I chose to come here to clean up."

Now it was Yuzu's turn to glare at him skeptically. "What now?" He said irritably.

"You said, "Bloodied". That would imply you got cut, but _**I**_didn't see a single cut on you." She gave him a smirk and a sideways glance. "And I saw quite a lot!"

Toshiro stared wide-eyed at her brazenness till she blushed and giggled nervously, shyly looking at the floor. He dropped his teal eyes as well as another blush stained his cheeks. "Yes, well…" He cleared his throat as his left arm reached up to gingerly touch his injured shoulder. "I was lucky enough to avoid getting cut. When I said bloodied, I was referring mostly to _their_ blood on me. Well, and a bloody nose from a surprise right hook."

Yuzu gasped in horror. "You didn't kill them, did you?"

"What? No! I – look, they turned and ran once they realized I wasn't an easy target! Now can I have my shirt back?"

Yuzu picked up the garment, but paused momentarily before giving it to her patient. "Here is your _pristine_ white shirt back."

Toshiro's lips twitched in amusement. "You don't miss a beat, do you? This is one of your brother's old shirts. He said he'd throw mine into the wash."

"HE SAID WHAT?!" Yuzu screamed in horror. A bloody shirt, mixing around with her delicates! Oh, she was going to KILL that boy! "Excuse Me!" Yuzu flung the shirt onto Toshiro's head and tore out of the room! Toshiro blinked in confusion, gingerly donned the garment and started to leave.

"WAIT!"

Yuzu ran back in and shoved a rectangular box into his hand. "Here, have someone rub this onto your bruise a couple a times a day." She said breathlessly. "It will ease the pain, and help break down the bruise. Come back soon and let me know how it's doing." She looked up shyly at him one last time before squeezing her eyes tightly and taking off again. "JA-NE!"

Toshiro quietly examined the medicine, rotating the box in his hands thoughtfully, running a thumb over the words 'KUROSAKI MEDICAL CLINIC'

"Ready, Toshiro-kun?" a young, chipper, feminine voice called out.

Toshiro shoved the box back into the drawer. "Uh, yes, thank you."

Orihime smiled as the smaller boy took a seat on the stool. "It's no problem, Toshiro-kun! I'm just so glad I could help!" She inhaled deeply, and released her healing ability over the bruised shoulder. "You were very lucky! I sure hope Ichigo is okay."

"I'm sure he's fine, Inoue-san."

"Hey." The duo looked up as the boy in question entered the room. His head and arm were heavily bandaged.

"Ichigo!" Orihime squealed.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Ichigo!" Toshiro began to ask, "Did you-"

"It's all taken care of. I managed to track down that pack leader down to the waterfront, just like you suspected. He made a mess of Renji's _gigai_, but then we made a mess of _him_."

"Renji? Is he okay?"

"Yeah. Like I said, his _gigai_ got it pretty bad, but Urahara said he could have it fixed by the time we healed." Ichigo settled on a kitchen chair with a relaxing sigh.

"Ichigo, just let me finish with Toshiro-kun and I'll-"

"Hey, don't worry about it, Orihime. Yuzu patched me up. Fussed so hard over me I'd be better off just letting them heal naturally. Besides, I've had worse."

"Oh, dear! Sounds like Yuzu-chan was really worried about you, Ichigo!"

Toshiro eyed Ichigo cautiously, pretending he was only casually interested in their conversation. "Tch!" Ichigo snorted, "She's been a grump all day for some reason or other. Yelled at me the whole time she was bandaging me up."

"For being careless?" Orihime offered.

"Nah, believe it or not, she kept going off about towels."

"Towels?"

"Yeah, apparently I neglected to put away a bunch she put in my room the other day. She kept going on about 'embarrassing consequences'. Made no damn sense at all!" Toshiro bit back a laugh, cheeks pinking slightly.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Ichigo stood up and grabbed a cloth bundle, which he presented to the young captain. "Here's your shirt, Toshiro."

"Thank you." Toshiro inspected the garment. The bloodstains were completely gone, and the fabric had the warm, pleasant just-from-the-dryer smell. "You did a good job."

"I think Yuzu probably had more to do with that than me." The red-haired warrior's face scrunched slightly. "It funny though. She never asked anything about it. In fact, she didn't even yell at me about it."

"No?" Said Orihime. "Did she maybe not see the stains?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it. Huh, now that I think about it…. she was acting kinda funny when she gave it to me – kinda awkward and shy…" His brown eyes flickered to the smaller male. Toshiro pretended not to notice the curiosity and underlying threat with in them, and merely made what he hoped was a grunt of disinterest.

"That _is_ strange." Orihime agreed. She stepped back and dropped her arms, the golden triangle of light dissipating. "All done, Toshiro-kun!"

"Thank you, Orihime. I truly appreciate your help." Toshiro turned to face Ichigo as Orihime began to blush and babble self-deprecatingly. "And thank you, Ichigo, for letting me get cleaned up at your place."

"Sure thing. You guys are pretty much welcome to come over when you need to – I don't think I could stop you guys from doing so anyway! Just remember to try to avoid the rest of my family. I don't know how they'd react to a bunch of strangers popping up unannounced, especially Yuzu."

"I…think I have an idea." Toshiro smiled softly.

"Huh? What'd you say?"

Toshiro straightened and cleared his throat. "Nothing. I was just agreeing with you. I'll do my best to avoid being caught in an awkward situation where your family is concerned." _Again_, he thought as he walked away, slipping the shirt over his head. The scent that filled his nose reminded him of her, and an image of Yuzu bubbled up. AS he made his way to the roof, he smiled. With a small grunt, he leapt across the rooftops, clearly meandering in one particular direction. He had promised he would not get caught in an awkward situation with the Kurosaki family…but he hadn't promised he'd keep away from one family member in particular, now, did he…?


End file.
